Never Seen A Blue Sky
by Hasty
Summary: "If you'll talk, I'll listen." Rangiku heals slowly, but she's getting better. Post 416.


_**If I were Tito Kube- I'd be in hiding. Spoilers for S.S. arc and current arc. Also, mentions past trauma. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Theme: Blue from Cowboy Bebop.**_

Rangiku got kicked out of Fourth that night and went wandering with the rest of the left-overs.

(Lousy, useless trash, kicked to the curb by the ones they trusted, stabbed in the heart by the ones they loved.)

They headed over to Eighth, because Shunshui had the best rotgut, and you don't want to waste good booze when you're trying to find oblivion. Then someone had the bright idea of wandering over to Eleventh.

She thinks it was Iba, but she wasn't sure of anything at that point. Anyway, drinking at Eleventh was fun. Kenpachi got chatty, when he was drunk, and Ikkaku attacked any inanimate object that got in his way.

Yumichika doesn't drink much. He's got a past as dark as hers-worse. She never considered rape as something to get _used _to. But he'd fought back, and she hadn't. It wasn't her fault, just her bad luck to be born with a pretty face in the wrong part of the Rukon. She still wonders if she did something wrong that day. And now, her only safe place is gone, and she's all alone.

She first noticed the dark ryoka boy, and the girl. Uryu, she didn't pay much attention too, beyond teasing him and pinching his butt. Sado barely paid any attention to her, playing the samishen slowly and hesitantly. (Not badly, though, considering he'd never picked one up before.)

Later that night, when the lightweights had gotten weeded out, she complained loudly about Gin, and then shut herself up. No one cared, no one would listen.

"_Talk to me," _he'd said. "_I'll listen." _

He had, and she'd cried herself to sleep against his shoulder. He didn't say one word, but she thought,_ at least he won't judge me._

_99_

They met again when she came to the living world, hunting the Bounts and then the Arrancars. He gave her his cell phone number, telling her to call him anytime. She often called, usually as he was just getting in from a practice with his band mates.

"_I hate the dark, silent, mysterious type. Why don't you talk about yourself?" _she asked once.

"_I'm not trying to be mysterious. I don't talk because I have nothing to say."_

It wasn't just one way anymore. She asked about him, his life. He lived alone, since his grandfather died. He hates most of his family, as they think of him as a stain on their bloodline and family pride. She knows about stains, and he should be thankful his are on the outside. Unlike dark, dirty forlorn her.

He has a few secrets though. He doesn't drink or do drugs, because he's scared of what'll happen if he loses control. He's not over his first love, Ichigo, but he's tried to find someone else. Like many shinigami she knows, it's not about gender, so much as it is about personality. He did like Honzu, and they dated for a while before she decided that she wasn't ready to give up on Orihime. The local record store owners want to adopt him, and he has the most eclectic musical taste.

99

It changed when she left Seireitei for the fourth and last time.

_"Four's unlucky, don't you know that? At least that's what I've heard," Gin said once._

She wanted, needed to know why. The ambulatory shinigami stream past her, carrying those who are too exhausted and too wounded to move. Kira's draped over Shuuhei's shoulder. She regrets toying with them now. Shuuhei's too bright and too loving to be with someone like her. Kira's darkness threatens to consume her, and she hopes he can find someone who'll be strong enough to keep him from drowning.

Hitsugaya-taicho's eyes are wide and unseeing-she wonders if Gin was a relative of his, suddenly. Hinamori's faintly breathing, but she's fading fast. There's a wail from the unfamiliar blonde vaizard as a companion fades. Saskakibe grips Yachiru's hand tighter, and she wonders how she never saw the resemblance before. Kenpachi's off, gone with Yamamoto and the uninjured captains. Kiyone runs up to Iba, and he hugs her and Isane. When she sees him kissing the top of Kiyone's head, she smiles to herself. He's been chasing the wrong blonde all this time. He'll be all right.

The vice-captains without bankai were ordered to stay behind, but she's going.

Along with the ryoka: they've got people they need to save. Yumichika and Ikkaku are going again, but then they were always laws unto their own.

So does she. Even if he doesn't want to be saved, even if she gives everything and loses it all.. she's got to try. She has to know why.

99

Rescue comes as a surprise. She was certain that they'd die together. And isn't that what _should _happen? Gin was everything that was good in her life, as she was his better half. Why mess with fate? Kurosaki stands strong, and she prays he can win. And over there- it's the calvary!

Sado picks her up as though she was light as a feather. He throws Gin over his shoulder and nods to Ichigo. He's got this. Ichigo and the rest can do what they need to do.

A green-haired Arrancar, behind Sado, spits on the injured, and herds the rest of the living behind her, scooping up Tatsuki on the way. She can dimly sense the rest of the captains moving this way.

Gin fades into nothing as Sado runs toward Orihime. She buries her face in Sado's shoulder and cries. The Arrancar picks up speed, and she hopes Tatsuki's luck hasn't run out.

99

Ten years later, she smokes outside a food store. She loves the taste of nicotine, and it lets her take a break. Best of all, it won't kill her. Of course, Unohana clucks, but she can't really do much about it. The Seireitei's baby boom is in full swing, and Fourth's officers are busy.

"Hey."

She looks up into affectionate brown eyes. "Hey yourself. What happened last night at the T.V studio? We sensed a hollow, but by the time we got there, it was long gone."

"It wasn't a hollow, it was Nel."

He looks hurt as he says it. Nel wasn't his first love, or even his first girlfriend, but their parting had been hard on him. Granted, she'd pushed him out of a Garganta, which definitely was an unusual way to break up. Rangiku remembered catching him, and the way he'd moped after he realized she wasn't coming back. For the first time, she had to comfort him.

"You miss her."

"Of course. Have you ever stopped loving him?"

"No. But I'm happy."

"So am I."

She turns her face up to the blue, blue sky, and slides her arm into his. They say nothing, because nothing needs to be said. For now, this is enough, for both of them. And for the first time in a long long time, she feels cleansed.

_**I don't know where this came from. I just had to write something, after 416. I know the later couples are crackish, so don't flame me.**_

**_Reviews? _**


End file.
